


Rock & Roll

by compo67



Series: Punzel Verse [17]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Drabble, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Jensen Singing, M/M, jensen centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-20 01:39:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3631809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/compo67/pseuds/compo67
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen begins to take his guitar to the park, where he sits and plays for a while.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rock & Roll

Jared says he’s good enough to play for an audience.

Jensen counters with the fact that their family is an audience in itself. One person in particular is always present when he takes out his new guitar. From each tune to the final strum, Bailey sits next to Jensen or at his feet. Sometimes he listens, other times he asks questions.

What’s that? A fret. What’s this? A G chord.

For the first few weeks with the new guitar, Jensen takes his time getting acquainted with it. He learns the way it likes to be tuned, the way it prefers to be played, and all the wrong ways to hold it in his arms. At home, in the living room or on the back porch, he’s comfortable making mistakes.

The first time he takes a walk with his guitar in its case and sits in the park, he tries his best to play something easy. People are looking—listening.

Taking a deep breath, he plays through one whole song without stopping.

After that, playing is a little easier. He develops a routine. There is plenty of chaos in his life, so one routine outside of work and home is welcomed. The park near their house has a patch of patient and nonjudgmental flowers next to the bench he likes. From time to time he’ll play in the gardens when it’s just him and Ken, but this is a spot he is fond of.

Today, Jensen escaped work early. Antonio sent him home. He’ll take care of the gardens. Jensen has been working fifty hours a week for the past two weeks, trying his best to catch up on paperwork with Joy and Ken. Plus, they’ve just received a batch of orchids that he can’t stop fussing over.

Chords play at random from his fingers. Just a little warm up. What he plays isn’t loud or overly complicated. Gradually, he tosses in chord combinations that test the dexterity of his fingers. Strumming feels good. It is a motion that lulls him into a place similar to quiet Sunday mornings, when Jared will wake him up with kisses and a massage. Those kinds of mornings where they’re awake before anyone but no one needs to talk. Jensen closes his eyes and strums to that picture.

Santa Monica is a city, but it doesn’t feel like it. Live here long enough and everyone will know who is doing what and what is going on over here or there. Still, Santa Monica allows for distance if it’s needed.

So Jensen is only a little surprised when someone sits next to him on the bench.

He’s more surprised by the trumpet case in their hand.

Huh.

It’s been a while since Jensen has been to a bar. But Antonio invited him for drinks after work one night and Jensen said yes. They knocked back beers, watched some football, and talked about their kids. It felt like a dad date. All they needed was a cheesy facebook update, which Jared took care of for them when he heard about it later.

On his second beer, Jensen made eye contact with one of the bartenders.

He kept drinking; the bartender helped other folks. That was it. Jensen didn’t think it was much, so he didn’t include that in his dad date tale. Nothing happened.

This, though, is something.

Jensen takes in a deep breath. The muscles in his shoulders are tensing up. He needs to relax. Breathe. Think this through. Does he know a song with a good trumpet accompaniment?

The song he wants to play is meant for guitar and piano.

If the guy is smart, he’ll be able to play along anyway.

For the first time playing here in the park, next to the flowers he personally waters, Jensen sings. He keeps his voice soft and personal, keeping the sound of it between just the two of them.

“Give me something that’s real like rock ‘n roll. Give me something I can feel down in my soul. ‘Cause everything is perfect, everything is clean, just an imitation of the thing it used to be.” The trumpet case clacks open. “Let me hitch a ride on a rusty freight train, back in time to a dying day when songs were played out of tune and you could hear a heartbeat through the radio.”

Springtime in Santa Monica heralds warmer, brighter days. It’s the time of year when they swap out winter jackets for t-shirts with dinosaurs on them and shoes for tiny sandals.

The trumpet takes a few chords to fit in. That’s fine. Jensen adjusts.

“Tell me something that you mean with all your heart.” The first notes are too heavy, too long. Guy’s got it all wrong. This sounds like a sad song, but it’s not. Jensen plucks a few chords that differ from the original song. “Everybody’s talkin’ just to make some noise. Half the shit we’re saying don’t mean nothing anymore.”

Not a sad song.

Every time Jensen looks down at Bailey, he is reminded that Bailey is looking up. He has to remember that now. Keeping his voice steady and simplifying the chords, Jensen plays like he’s in his living room.

“We got the whole world in our hands and we’ve never been more alone.”

Here, the trumpet fits, honest and at the right pitch.

Jensen starts the final set of chords. He eases them back in. “So give me something that’s real like rock and roll.” This is a quiet song, calm and slow. It takes its time. But Jensen knows it’s not a sad one. It’s an invitation. “Give me something I can feel down in my soul. Give me something that’s real…”

Both guitar and trumpet wind down and send off Jensen’s voice.

“…like rock and roll.”

A beat later, Jensen is not the first one to speak.

“Thanks,” Tristan murmurs, looking down at the instrument in his hands. He wipes away at a few tears with his sleeve. “I… came to ask you to lunch.”

Jensen doesn’t ask why Tristan came to him first.

He only asks, “Where to?”

Not a sad song at all.

**Author's Note:**

> in a rush to work! i'll edit this and a bunch else later (damn summaries!). song is "rock & roll" by sean mcconnell. <3


End file.
